Miraculous Youth
by Tales of Fox
Summary: Sequel to A Lady's Lullaby. The team had bonded well ever since there became three new members. Now they have to deal with chosen number 6 on Team Miraculous. And it's none other than the young child, Manon Chamack. What trials will come their way now with this new addition?
1. Boredom is Dangerous

**Fair warning: This is a sequel to Lady's Lullaby. If you don't want spoilers, finish that story before reading this one.**

Chapter 1

Manon found herself waiting in Marinette's bedroom once again for her babysitter to arrive. Today was a busy day for her mom again. Thankfully she has the Dupain Cheng family perfectly willing to watch over her. Mostly Marinette especially because she always had a hard time saying no. At least she was terrible at saying no in the past.

Lately, Marinette's been rather busy with other matters so one of her friends usually end up watching her. Alya was her absolute favorite because she would always tell cool stories, and come up with some fun games all while telling her that she was more behaved than her younger sisters. She enjoyed spending time with Adrien since they would often go to a park, and she didn't have to worry about spending too much money since the boy was rich. When Nino was watching her, he would let her jam out on his music equipment which was always fun to do. And despite things being awkward at first, she was really able to bond with Chloe over causing mischief and getting makeovers done.

She enjoyed all of them, but she really missed hanging out with Marinette. After all, she was practically like the first teenage friend that the child ever had. Not to mention, she was able to get a lot of sweets because they lived at a bakery. Last time she decided to look around for something to tease Marinette about until she found out that she had a crush on Adrien. And while she was happy that they finally started dating, the teasing got old rather quickly especially when the bluenette turned the teasing against her by saying that she was potentially gazing into her future.

Now once again she was left in an empty room waiting for her babysitter. Mr., and Mrs. Dupain Cheng said that Marinette would be home in a few minutes so she was able to wait upstairs for her to come home. That was 15 minutes ago, but it felt like 15 hours. "Why doesn't she hang out with me more?" she moaned as she plopped on the bed.

However, she hopped back up when she felt something solid that she banged against. When checking to see what it was, she found a decent sized box hidden under the bed. It appeared to be in an octagonal shape with a yin yang symbol on top. "Cool," she said as she pulled out the box.

For the size of the box, it felt heavier than it should for some reason. Manon managed to set it on the bed, and heard something rattle inside as she did. When she opened the box, she found a group of smaller boxes inside in different colors. The ones most visible were red, black, green, orange, yellow, blue, and violet. And when she checked inside the small boxes, they were all empty.

However, she also noticed more small boxes on the sides. However, Marinette would probably notice if she took out every single one to see what was inside. So instead, Manon pulled out the first box she spotted. Inside the box was a strange looking bracelet on a magenta colored pad. "Is this one of Marinette's designs?" she thought out loud as she grabbed the bracelet.

She attempted to put it on her wrist but the size was too large. At least it started that way until it slowly changed to fit on her wrist perfectly. However this frightened the child, and made her try to take it off. Her attempts to remove it ceased when she noticed a bright magenta flash from the bracelet making her shut her eyes. When she opened them again, she noticed one other change.

In front of her was a small creature hovering around her face. The creature seemed to match the magenta color theme that the inside of the box took on. It also appeared to be in the form of a tiger based on the stripes, and the face. It didn't take long for the creature to gaze upon Manon, and smile at the child, saying, "Hello little one."

Manon didn't know whether to cry out in fear, or squeal in excitement. She simply stared at the creature and asked, "Who are you?"

"My name is Roaar," the creature gleefully replied, "What's yours?"

"Manon Chamack," Manon answered.

"Well Manon, it's a pleasure to meet you," Roaar said as she extended an arm for the child to shake.

As Manon reached out with two fingers to shake the tiny appendage, she began to relax. She realized that the little tiger creature known as Roaar wasn't really something to fear at all. In fact she was rather adorable especially since she looked like a little tiger cub. But there was still one question burning in the back of Manon's mind. "So why were you hidden here in Marinette's room?"

Roaar looked confused, "Marinette? Is that the name of Ladybug?"

That was when Manon swore she felt her jaw hit the floor. She was in complete disbelief at hearing the mind blowing secret. The same girl that was watching over her for the past few years was also fighting against akumas, and saving Paris? The clumsy and shy girl who couldn't say no to a small child was actually the brave and heroic protector? How did she not see the connection before?

"Marinette is Ladybug?" Manon asked, breaking the silence.

"That's who I was last left in the care of," Roaar answered, "Me and the other kwamis at least."

Manon felt a flurry of emotions overwhelm her. She was ecstatic that her babysitter was a freaking superhero. She was angry that she was never told that Ladybug was actually her first teenage friend ever. She was worried about all the times Marinette as Ladybug was almost defeated by akumas. And now she was confused by Roaar's last comment, "What are kwamis?"

"Kwamis are creatures like me," Roaar explained, "We are how Ladybug, Chat Noir, Rena Rouge, Carapace, And Queen Bee all become their hero selves."

"That's so cool," Manon said, finally expressing her enthusiasm, "Are the rest in here as well?"

Roaar looked towards the box she came out of, "Well all but seven of us and myself. Yes."

Manon smiled widely as she decided to see what fun she could have now.

Meanwhile,

Marinette was on her way back home with her four friends in tow. Probably good for her that things were ending now anyway. A few months ago, their little gatherings would sometimes consist of Nino, and Alya trying to play matchmaker with Adrien, and herself. Now it was mostly filled with the couple getting teased by all three. It still took a while for Chloe to join in, but when she did, she was merciless in the teasing, and worse when she was with Alya.

And what's worse is that the two know that they couldn't do anything to fight against it. They couldn't tease Nino, and Alya about being a couple because they would admit to whatever they were being teased about, even if it wasn't true. For a while they gave Chloe a taste of her own medicine by trying to see if she would like Adrien's lookalike, Luka. This too changed after Chloe had been dating Nathanael for the past few weeks. And with that, they were forced to concede until Marinette found an alternative.

"Okay well this is where we say goodbye," Marinette said as they reached her front door, "Unless you guys want to spend the night."

"Wait," Chloe pitched in, "Is this an offer for all of us, or for your little kitten?"

Alya laughed at Chloe's remark, "It's always the 'quiet' ones."

Marinette groaned at the comments before saying, "Oh please, keep it up. Next time I won't bring treats for your kwamis to recharge."

"NOOO!" The teens heard four voices say all at once.

Suddenly, Marinette felt the four kwamis latch onto her like glue. While their reactions were a little silly, it was the one thing she could do to keep her friends quiet after all. All of the kwamis enjoyed treats that the whole Miraculous team knew Marinette could make easily, and have come to depend on her for providing treats for the kwamis to recharge. And with her baking experience, Marinette pretty much had all of the kwamis wrapped around her finger. So her revoking access to the delicious snacks to them was like taking away a gift from God.

"Please don't take away the delicious treats," Pollen begged as she clung to the right side of Marinette's head.

"I'll tell you all of Adrien's darkest secrets," Plagg pleaded, holding onto the bluenette's left cheek.

"Alya will do all of your homework," Trixx offered desperately as he hugged the top of Marinette's forehead.

"I'll show you how to silence Nino," Wayzz pitched in, hanging onto Marinette's right cheek.

"Okay, I think that's enough," Adrien said as they all pulled their kwamis off of Marinette.

While all kwamis were undyingly loyal to their chosens, it was clear that they all hold deeper loyalty with Marinette. This was mostly due to Master Fu entrusting the remaining miraculouses to her though Plagg's loyalty came from his love of her cheese pastries. Normally this fact delighted the others but it also gave their team leader a chance to get dirt on the teens as well. This kept them from going too far with the teasing for the most part.

Marinette waited until their kwamis were hidden before entering the bakery. After a quick chat with her parents, all teens made their way up to the bedroom up top where Manon was waiting. They all really enjoyed spending time with the child in their own little ways, and always did their best to make her feel included. However, they never expected what would happen while they were gone. So when they opened the door leading to Marinette's bedroom, they were all stunned silent.

They found all of the kwamis from the miraculous box circled around the child. They all appeared to be having fun, playing games, and enjoying the delicious treats from downstairs. Currently, it looked like they were playing a video game on Marinette's console. And they saw Manon's little dance from her winning against one of the kwamis. However, once her eyes were set upon the five teens in the room with her, she froze on the spot.

The kwamis were no better. All of them stopped whatever they were doing, and were as still as statues. Roaar, and a few of the others simply smiled because of the arrival of the remaining kwamis. Sass, and the rest had paled from concern at realizing the same issue that the child had discovered. Tikki, Plagg, Trixx, Wayzz, And Pollen were frozen as well since they expected the room to be empty when they arrived, and thus entered the room openly within sight of Manon.

After they analyzed the room, all five teens looked to Manon, who simply gave a worried smile, and said, "I can explain."


	2. Caught Magenta Handed

Chapter 2

The entire room was silent as everyone waited for the child to explain. However, after ten long minutes of silence, they just wanted someone to say something. But honestly, it was difficult to figure out how to proceed. Manon kept looking for excuses but couldn't find one that worked for this scenario. So there was complete lack of sound until she finally said, "I'm sorry?"

Suddenly Marinette walked over to the open miraculous box and collected all other small boxes with it, asking, "Why did you open this box?"

"I was bored waiting for you to show up," Manon answered honestly, "And I thought it was another one of your designs."

Marinette looked at the child a little sternly as she set the boxes on her desk, "That's not a very good excuse for you going through my things."

"Well what about the fact that you're Ladybug?" Manon replied.

That's when all five teens froze in place. It didn't take long for the kwamis to do the same. Marinette looked to the kwamis, and then back at Manon, "Who told you that?"

That's when Roaar spoke up, "Wait, she wasn't suppose to know?"

Sass flew over to meet Roaar face to face, and began chastising, "You said that she was informed that Marinette was Ladybug."

"I said I believed that," Roaar defended herself, "I didn't know for sure."

Marinette let out an audible groan, "Okay So how much does she know now?"

Roaar gave a look of worry as she answered, "Almost everything."

Marinette groaned again, "I'll rephrase. What doesn't she know?"

"Oh right," Manon chimed in, "How do I become a superhero with this bracelet?"

Manon held up her right wrist to reveal what was on it. While the teens were away, Manon used the moment to ask questions about the miraculous. One of them was how the Panjas bracelet was able to change sizes to fit her small wrist. And when the others noticed it on her wrist, they became worried about what she'll do with it. Someone like Hawkmoth having a miraculous is dangerous, but someone like a little child having one was unpredictable.

This wasn't to say that Marinette didn't trust Manon to do the right thing. It was more that there are children who'd do anything for a little fun. Even if it meant potentially abusing the power bestowed upon them by the kwamis. And with Hawkmoth hunting for the miraculouses, it was dangerous for one to be in the hands of a person so young. So Marinette was quick to act, "Manon, I need you to give that to me please."

"Wait," Manon began to bargain as she clutched her wrist to her chest, "What if I promise to only help when things are really bad?"

"Manon, being like us is very dangerous," Marinette explained, "You could get seriously hurt."

"But you still do it every day," Manon argued.

"Yes but you're just a child," Marinette countered.

"Don't you still count as a child as well?" Manon asked.

Marinette tried to provide her own argument to that remark but couldn't find anything that would work. She looked to the other teens only to find herself with no support. Even when he wasn't visually Chat Noir, Adrien still liked tormenting his girlfriend sometimes. Nino just shrugged since he couldn't think of any way to help. Chloe was doing her best to pretend like she wasn't noticing the conversation. And Alya, being Alya, was trying to maintain her composure without going off on how a child miraculous wielder would be cute.

"May I speak?" Sass asked politely as he flew in between the two ladies.

Once Marinette nodded, he proceeded to provide his opinion, "From what I've witnessed so far, I don't believe there's any harm in allowing Manon to take care of Roaar's miraculous. Not to mention, Hawkmoth wouldn't be looking for a child chosen."

Marinette turned to look at her friends again for their thoughts. None of them seemed to have an issue with the girl having a miraculous. However, only Adrien and Alya looked a little excited about the idea of Manon joining their team. Nino, and Chloe on the other hand were worried about the dangers that she'd get into, but ultimately decided to comply. And finally Marinette turned her attention back to the kid, "Okay Manon, Roaar can stay with you."

"Yay!" Manon cheered before noticing Marinette crouch down to meet her eye level.

"But there are many things you should know if this is going to happen. If you go patrolling with us, and that's a big if, you stay with one of the five of us no matter what. Otherwise, you will help for emergencies only. Also your kwami will need to eat from time to time but that doesn't mean you can overfeed her."

Marinette continued explaining the remaining rules to having a miraculous with an active kwami. Only take off the bracelet if it's really needed to be removed. Tell no one about the fact that a miraculous is in the hands of a little kid. Don't abuse the powers of the kwami for any reason especially if it's just to show off. The list went on, but once finished, Marinette looked Manon directly in the eye, and said, "Do you understand? This is a big responsibility. You break that responsibility, and I will have to take the miraculous away from you."

Manon smiled, and nodded as she gave her honest answer, "I understand."

"Good," Marinette smiled as she picked up the boxes belonging to the other kwamis, and put them away. One by one, the kwamis began disappearing as each miraculous was put back away. Finally the only kwamis remaining were the main five, and Roaar who was currently sitting on Manon's shoulder, watching Manon play a video game. Meanwhile the main five were elsewhere discussing what Marinette had just agreed to. Chloe was the first to start the discussion, "Are you sure that we should let this happen?"

"Not really," Marinette answered honestly, "But it seems like the best option."

"You make it sound like she'll out us if we told her no," Wayzz spoke up.

"She wouldn't do that," Tikki defended the girl.

"Though she might use this knowledge to gain popularity at school," Plagg pointed out.

"Okay enough," Marinette ended the discussion immediately, "It doesn't matter now."

"But how will we be able to monitor her?" Nino asked.

"Actually kwamis are able to connect with each other," Trixx answered, "We tried with Nooroo but…"

Trixx didn't really need to finish. The five teens had a discussion in the past with the kwamis about what had happened to their missing friends. They discovered that Duusu's Miraculous was broken many years ago so connection there is unlikely. They also discussed how when they tried reaching out to Nooroo last time, Hawkmoth became aware of the other miraculouses.

Deciding that dwelling on the past wouldn't help, Adrien moved the conversation along, "So you guys can communicate without being in the same room?"

"Well it's a little more complicated than that," Pollen clarified, "And it'd be hard to explain."

"But the big takeaway is that we can monitor Manon unless Roaar shuts us out," Tikki explained with greater clarity.

"Okay So then we go with that," Alya nodded.

Once they finished discussing things, they returned just as Manon had finished asking, "So how do I use the hero change?"

Since Roaar didn't realize that it would be a problem, she answered honestly, "Well you just say my name, and then 'stripes on', and that's it."

"Sweet," Manon immediately jumped to her feat, and exclaimed, "Roaar, stripes on!"

"No wait!" Marinette said as the five rushed to stop the transformation sequence.

Unfortunately they were already too late. There was a bright magenta flash from Manon's bracelet, and Roaar had disappeared inside. When the flash disappeared, the teens looked at Manon who was no longer in her usual outfit. Instead, she was wearing what looked to be a magenta jumpsuit with almost as many pockets as Chat Noir. Though hers was in different shades of magenta with stripes from head to toe. She had two tiger ears on her head, a tiger tail, and a striped magenta mask on her face. And the first words that came to the teens' minds were, "Oh Crap."


	3. New Hero in the House

Chapter 3

Manon was stunned silent once more when she noticed the transformation was complete. It was hard not to be when she had just transformed into a miniature superhero. She took in all of the features of her current attire thanks to a tall mirror which was set up next to her, and allowed her to see her whole profile. Not only was she now in a magenta striped jumpsuit, but she also noticed tiger ears on top of her head, and a tiger tail that was swaying. When she looked at her eyes, they were a bright gold color much like a tiger's. The only thing that remained unchanged was her hair.

To test if they were real, Manon gave a light tug on her tiger features. Needless to say, she could feel the tug which even though was intended to be light, actually hurt a little. Again she was baffled on how to properly react to what had just happened. Of course, when she did settle on a reaction, she didn't have time to use it. Because Alya had picked her up in a hug and said, "Oh my gosh you look adorable."

Manon began protesting the action by the teen, "Put me down!"

The pair looked over to the remaining four teens who were all just standing with unreadable expressions. Actually, three of them were unreadable from their perspective. Marinette's reaction was very obvious concern for two reasons. The first being that she was hoping Manon would never learn how to transform into a superhero the same way the others did. The second being that she was hearing footsteps of Sabine walking towards the door to Marinette's room.

"Is everything okay up there?" she asked through the door.

"Uh Yeah," Marinette replied, "It's all good."

Thankfully, with their time being superheroes, the five teens knew how to properly hide themselves, so to speak. So they organized themselves around the room with the boys sitting by Marinette's desk, and the girls huddled around Manon. Just before the door opened, Alya had Manon in a T pose as if she was being measured. Sabine walked in, noticed how the children were placed around the room, and asked, "What's going on here?"

Marinette was quick to come up with a good lie, "Just making a Halloween costume for Manon."

Fearing losing her new little friend, Manon played along as she smiled at Sabine, "Look Mrs. Dupain-Cheng, I'm a superhero."

Sabine gave an amused chuckle at the display from the little child, "You certainly are dear. You kids want me to bring up any more sweets?"

"Knowing these four," Marinette gestured to her friends, "That's probably a good idea."

They all did enjoy the pastries that came from the bakery for sure since Tom was perhaps the best baker in all of Paris. But actually, the large amount of treats usually went to the kwamis rather than their chosens. They just claimed responsibility as opposed to let the parents find out about the existence of the tiny creatures. Honestly, they were surprised that the adults never thought it odd with the type of pastries requested. But that was all thoughts meant for another time.

"Fair enough," Sabine replied with a smile before looking to Manon, "What about you Manon?"

As Manon was about to answer, she heard a voice in her head urge her to respond a certain way. What bugged her the most was the voice most definitely was not hers. She figured that Marinette would explain later when it was just them and answered, with the voice's suggestion, "Do you have any raspberry flavored treats?"

"Certainly dear," Sabine answered with a smile as she left to get the sweets.

As soon as they heard the door shut, Manon looked to Marinette, and asked, "I heard someone talking in my head. What was that?"

"That would be Roaar," Marinette answered, "Each kwami is able to communicate with their chosen while their miraculouses are activated."

Manon felt a brief moment of relief until Marinette continued talking, "However, you weren't suppose to activate yours."

The tiger ears stood straight up, and the tail stiffened into a straight line as Manon looked to her babysitter with concern, "Please don't take it away. I'm sorry."

"Relax Manon, I'm not upset," Marinette replied with a light chuckle to calm the child down.

"By the way," Alya interjected, "While you're like that, what should we call you?"

Manon looked confused, "What do you mean?"

This time Nino answered, "Well we each have our own superhero names. What do you want yours to be?"

"We could go with Princess Tiger," Chloe suggested as a joke, "That way I won't be the only royal one."

"That'd be confusing since I call Marinette 'princess' quite a bit," Adrien replied.

"I don't like princess anyway," Manon replied with light disgust.

All five teens began laughing until Pollen spoke up, "Honestly, you look more like an empress than a princess like that."

Manon looked to the kwami with excitement, "Ooh, I like that name. Empress."

However, the excitement faded to curiosity as Manon asked, "What is an empress anyway?"

"It's another word for someone who ruled over a country," Alya answered, "They were even said to have more power than a queen."

"Hey!" Chloe objected, but her resolve crumbled when Manon became joyful again.

Needless to say, the new superhero settled on being called Empress while in miraculous form. And she was certainly giddy to discover what all she can do as a superhero. Good news for her was that she had five people who could guide her on what she could expect. Whether or not they'd be willing to do so was another matter entirely. Not that it was going to stop her from asking anyway.

So the next thing Manon, now known as Empress, did was ask, "So what all can I do like this?"

Marinette was about to answer, but she felt a disturbance keep her from speaking right away. While the others weren't aware, only Adrien knew what this disturbance was. Which explained why he received a glare from his girlfriend. Because he was about to provide his own response to the question thrown out to the teens. Before he could even exhale, Marinette was quick to say, "Adrien don't you do it."

Deciding to play obliviousness, Adrien replied, "You don't know what I'm going to say."

"I could tell that you wanted to teach her cat puns," Marinette shot back, "And if you do, there will be consequences."

Empress simply watched the exchange before she noticed Chloe giggling. After a few minutes, the others noticed it as well. They gave Chloe a chance to settle down before asking what caused this giggle fit. When her giggles did end, Chloe provided an answer, "It's almost like you two are our new hero's parents arguing over how to raise her."

Nino and Alya gave a slow glance at the three before they began laughing. Adrien And Marinette were amused by the joke as well. At least it was clear with Adrien while Marinette still looked frustrated with her boyfriend. Empress didn't entirely understand why it was funny until she thought over it a little more. That was after Adrien made another statement, "But she needs to learn a lot of the basics to embrace her cat side. Would you really deny our little angel the opportunity to better connect with our hero selves?"

And with that statement, Empress used her babydoll eyes on Marinette once more. She didn't catch on to everything Adrien was talking about but once he mentioned the hero word, she was willing to take his side. And she knew that Marinette still had difficulty resisting her adorable little pout. For a while, Marinette's resolve stood firm until Empress included the sulking tiger ears which she could tell made her babysitter want to cave. Eventually she decided to compromise, "You can teach her a few things. But just a few."

Empress began cheering as Alya looked to her best friend, "You really need to work on saying 'no' a lot more."

Marinette gave a glare in response which said that she'd rather not get scolded on refusal at the moment. Empress ceased her cheering, and asked again, "But Seriously, what can I do as a hero?"

"Well that's a bit more difficult," Marinette answered, "We each have our own different qualities. Chat has more stamina than the rest of us, Rena is the most stealthy, Carapace can take more damage, and Bee can fly."

"Why can't Ladybug?" Empress asked.

In actuality, it was a question that each of them had been asking themselves. The reason was less because Marinette felt excluded, and more because it baffled the whole group. Everyone else had unique qualities from the animal that their kwamis represent. Ladybug's only quality is the fact that her suit was spotted like a ladybug. And when they all looked to the kwamis for an answer, Tikki answered for them, "We don't know why that is either."

"How could you not know?" Nino asked the spotted kwami, "You're the reason Ladybug is Ladybug."

"Yeah but that doesn't mean a lot," Tikki replied.

"Actually the qualities change with each chosen," Plagg explained, "They aren't all the same."

"Which is why you two didn't look entirely the same when you were temporarily Ladybug, and Chat Noir," Tikki finished telling.

It began to make more sense to the teens. During the fight that Nino and Alya had with Chevalier and Scheherazade, Nino's Chat Noir Look had a real tail instead of one that was looked like a belt. And Alya actually had a pair of antennae like a real ladybug. But it still felt weird that the qualities would change depending on the wielder, though it does help maintain anonymity in a way. However, this train of thought sparked another question from Empress, "So what would happen if you all swapped your miraculouses?"

"Well we only did the temporary hero thing once," Alya answered, "But it would be good to practice with other miraculouses."

"Actually that's not the best idea," Tikki replied, "Some are able to handle the temporary responsibility but in other hands, it can have negative affects."

They did think of asking for more information until they noticed Tikki looking beside her. They all followed her eyes which were looking towards Plagg, and Wayzz. The two were oblivious to it at first until they noticed the silence and in turn noticed the glares. The humans were all baffled while the kwamis looked more judgmental. The silence ended when Wayzz said, "That was one time and we apologized for it."

Deciding to to delve into the story later, Marinette looked to Empress and said, "Okay it's time to Detransform."

"Aw come on," Empress pouted, "Can I Please stay as Empress?"

"The kwamis need to recharge as well," Marinette replied, "I'm not budging on this."

"Wait," Empress almost exclaimed with excitement, "I don't know how to change back. So I can still be a hero."

"It's pretty much the same way you transform into a hero except opposite," Trixx stated.

"So it would be Roaar stripes off?" Empress asked, unknowingly beginning the Detransformation sequence. When she returned to being Manon, she pouted again, "You tricked me."

Adrien snickered at the remark, "Trixx's tricks."

While everyone else rolled their eyes, Trixx flew up next to the child and said, "I'm sorry but you can't stay as a hero forever."

"But we promise to let you get involved under certain circumstances if you promise to keep this to yourself," Marinette said as she extended her hand to Manon, "Deal?"

Manon happily shook the teen's hand with a smile and said, "Deal."


End file.
